by Nia Griffiths

The media take any chance they get to provoke Jose Mourinho into having a dig at Arsene Wenger and in the run up to our match against Chelsea it was no different.

Speaking about the manager’s impressive record against us, Mourinho was quick to claim he wouldn’t allow a run of this length to occur and if the shoe was on the other foot, he would be making big changes in order to beat us next time.

Of course, this is an underhand swipe which implies that Wenger doesn’t have a plan B or change his tactics. However, this much is to be expected before what is essentially a London derby – friendly or not. It’s the footballing equivalent of trash-talk before a boxing match.

“I haven’t been on a run like that. I don’t know in the future. I think I lost twice against Tony Pulis, I lost against Crystal Palace and against West Brom. One game each,” Mourinho said.

On how he’d deal with the numerous losses as a manager, he suggested, “I think I would ask myself why. I would try to answer, but not because of a mental block, but because I would want to try to find solutions to help my team to do it. (I would) try to find a different way, try to find the reasons why it goes all the time against my team.”

The former Real Madrid manager’s record is annoyingly impressive against us. We’re failed to win during any of our 14 games against Chelsea while he’s been in charge. Something which really needs to change soon.

However, Mourinho insists he doesn’t allow past results to affect the way he approaches future games.

“I don’t think about what has happened before, I just think about the game,” he said. “So, for me, 6, 7, 8 or 9 matches without losing makes no difference and I don’t think it affects this game. I didn’t think about it until about a couple of weeks before I play against his team. And I try to understand what he is thinking, try to understand what can be his game plan. Just that.”